Thursday, 31 March 2016

"UK Industrial Policy" - Echoes of Hollow Laughter

Being somewhat embroiled in my own industrial policy just now, this post will be short. The headlines on Tata and the British steel industry, alongside the steady drip of crazy news on EDF's Hinkley Point nonsense, make for desperate reading. Show me one government minister of any industrial experience, let alone 'proven track record of success', as the job application ought to read.The rumbling UK issue of the first half of this year must soon become entangled with these fiascos. Cameron, surely, will be pressed to go ('cap in hand' as they always put it) to Brussels for some kind of bail-out triumph. The 'remain' camp, presumably, would ideally like Brussels to bung Tata a direct EU 'solidarity' sub: that ain't gonna happen. So the best they can hope for is an approval for some UK taxpayer-funded bailout - which isn't so easy to spin as a reason for staying in, is it? ("See how quickly Mr Juncker approved a breach of his own rules on state aid, isn't it wonderful?!")But how can the EU be called in aid of Hinkley? They've already twisted themselves in knots to approve the tens, nay hundreds of billions of state aid on offer to the beast. I realise there are no limits to the deviousness of the frogs and Juncker and Mandy and all these disreputable types, so nothing should be ruled out. Still, their creativity will be stretched to come up with anything plausible on these two fronts in the next couple of months. If they succeed, there will be a long queue for referenda across the entire continent, hahah.ND

Anonymous-Where is it said that Brexit means restricted access to the EU? The reality is that we can and would almost certainly stay in the single market for a period of time whilst a longer term solution is worked out. And being in hasn't done Port Talbot any good has it? Just pushed up the cost of energy.p.s. WTO rules would probably block tariffs on China anyway.

There is a big strategic problem here. No steel industry = no manufacturing. It is the cornerstone. The Chinese are dumping steel for a reason, it is allowing them to hollow out Western industrial capacity. What we should be doing is erecting massive tariff barriers. In fact the EU commission would like to so exactly that, but our own treacherous government has its collective tongue lodged so firmly up the Chinese fundament they have been blocking the necessary measures for the last 3 years.

If they can save banks they can fucking well do the same for what is left of our industry. Otherwise a sharecropper future beckons.